Shoton Festival

Shoton Festival Overview & Map Weather Transportation Information

Subsequently, as the activities of Shoton Festival gradually changed into an activity with Tibetan opera as a major part, so people also called it the Tibet Opera Festival. Prior to the 17th century, Shoton had been an exclusively religious observance. The month of June on the Tibetan calendar was reserved for self-cultivation and meditation for all the monks who were not allowed to go out of monasteries until July 1, when local residents would offer alms of yogurt (Sho, in Tibetan), that's how The Shoton Festival came into being. From around the mid-17th century, Tibetan local operas were added to festival celebrations. In the beginning of the 18th century, Norbu Lingka was built and acted as the summer palace of Dalai. Then the main site of the festival was moved to Norbu Lingka and celebrations became formalized. Accordingly, the fixed Shoton Festival was established. In the old Tibet, the activities of the Shoton Festival went like this: on the 29th of the sixth month, troupes all through Tibet would go to the Potala Palace and registered in the local government. Curt performances was given at the ceremony and then they would worship Dalai at Norbu Lingka, and returned to Dreprung Monastery in the evening. On the 30th , Zang opera would be performed all day at Dreprung Monastery.

History

Origin

The festival originated at Drepung Monastery, as a celebration to mark the end of the monks' Yarn, their hundred day summer retreat.

Celebration

It begins on the new moon marking the end of the sixth Tibetan month. It includes performances of the musical dance dramas known as Ache Lhamo (Tibetan Opera). In other parts of Tibet the dances are part of the harvest festival, and yoghurt would be served at the feast which followed. The Ache Lhamo dances are attributed to Thangtong Gyalpo, also known as Chaksampa, a lama of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, also famous for building iron chain bridges in many parts of Tibet. The popularity of this festival was such that the government decreed it an annual event of a further five days, established at the Norbulingka. There are performances by all the established companies from throughout Tibet, some of which can perform the whole Lhamo repertoire, and some who specialize in one particular drama. Some of the stories are derived from Indian Buddhist legends, while others relate incidents in Tibetan history.

Events

Buddha Show

"Buddha Show " is a main and important activity on Shoton Festival. In the dawn, a lot of Lama of Zhaihung Monastery spread out the giant "Thanka" of Buddha. When the "Thanka" is spread out, the sun would be blazing through the morning mist whether the weather is sunny or overcast, and shines at the gaint 'Thanka" of Buddha, which is called the combination of deities and mankind. Then thousands of followers hold their breath and feel the baptism of their hearts. Next, horns blare, all Lama read the scripture and pray, followers present Khada to the "Thanka", and touch the "Thanka" by forehead to show devotion. Then people come to Norbu Lingka, walk into own relatives' and friends' tents, and serve yak-butter tea and highland barley wine each other. People would sing and dance throughout the night. Shoton Festival is also called Buddha-Show Festival or Tibetan Opera Festival.

Horse Race

Performance of traditional horsemanship is the traditional activity on the Shoton Festival, collecting ornamental, sports, entertaining together. The annual horse race performance is favorite among Tibetans, and become a major part full of brilliance. There are many items including single-person-single-horse, archery on horse, double-men-double-horse, shooting on horse, flower -basket-picking on horse and so on. These breathtaking and cliffhanging performances display athletes' superb technique and excellent psychological quality, and have been well received by the public and tourists in attendance.

Yak Race

Yak race is a traditional sport in Tibet and special favorite of the Tibetans. Every year during the eighth month comes the Shoton Festival. The people dress in their best finery and sing and dance to celebrate the banquet. The ancient city Lhasa hugs lots of yak-racing master-hand from all around Tibet. The yaks' massive heads are adorned with red flowers, their backs caparisoned with ornamented saddles. The yak jockeys' whip hands fly as they urge their mounts still faster towards the finish line.

Visiting Norbu Linka

The Shoton festival is called "Norbu linka Shoton" .

• Norbu linka is situated in the west of Lahsa and for a long time is the summer palace of Dalai Lama. In Tibetan language , Norbu linka means "treasure garden".In summer, Norbu Linka is the best place for Lahsans to spend summer time and enjoy the green grassland and beautiful flowers.

During the days of Shoton festival, the festival organizers build an open stage in Norbu Linka and many Tibetan opera troups perform Tibetan opera at this stage for several days. With long and loud aria of Tibet opera, the whole of Norbu Linka is bathing in the happiness.

Shoton Festival Highlights

Shoton Festival Highlights Related

Shoton Festival attraction highlights

• Drepung Temple

Dragon Boat Festival

Another festival for the living, commonly called the Fifth Moon Festival, was celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth moon. The proper name for this festival was the Upright Sun Festival, but foreigners in China referred to it as the Dragon-Boat Festival.

Spring Festival

For the Chinese, the Spring Festival is the first traditional festival during the year. It was called "New Year" in the past because according to the lunar calendar long used in Chinese history, it is the first day of the first lunar month, marking the beginning of a year.

Mid-Autumn Festival

Moon cake, round moon and reunion with the family, all these form the theme of the Mid Autumn Festival. During this festival, people reunion with their family and enjoy eating moon cake while appreciating the moon which is the roundest on this day.

Lantern Festival

The 15th day of the 1st lunar month is the Chinese Lantern Festival because the first lunar month is called yuan-month and in the ancient times people called night Xiao. The 15th day is the first night to see a full moon. So the day is also called Yuan Xiao Festival in China. According to the Chinese tradition, at the very beginning of a new year, when there is a bright full moon hanging in the

Ice and Snow Festival attraction highlights

The Harbin Ice and Snow Festival is one of the world's four largest ice and snow festivals, along with Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival, Canada's Quebec City Winter Carnival, and Norway's Ski Festival.

• Harbin

• Zhaolin Park

Tibetan Buddhism attraction highlights

Tibetan Buddhism incorporates Madhyamika and Yogacara philosophy, Tantric symbolic rituals, Theravadin monastic discipline and the shamanistic features of the indigenous religion. Among its most unique characteristics are its system of reincarnating lamas and the vast number of deities in its pantheon.

• Lhasa
• Shangri-la
• Chengde
• Gyangtze
• Shigatse
• Tsetang
• Ganzi

• Potala Palace
• Jokhang Temple
• Sera Temple
• Drepung Temple
• Norbulingka Park
• Songzanlin Temple
• Tashilhunpo Temple
• Temple of Universal Peace
• Putuo Zongcheng Temple
• Eight Outer Temples
• Lama Temple
• Tar Temple
• Barkhor Street
• Ramoche Temple
• Ganden Temple
• Temple of Universal Happiness
• Wudangzhao Temple
• Nietang Buddha
• Jiegu Temple

Tibetan Ethnic Group attraction highlights

This is an ethnic group of mystery and religion, a land with passionate people, a place of songs, dances and delicious food; This is Tibetan ethnic group. The Tibetans with a population of 5,416,021 mostly live in the Tibet Autonomous Region. There are also Tibetan communities in Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.

• Lhasa
• Gyangtze
• Shigatse
• Tingri
• Tsetang

Tibetan Khatag

Offering of Khatag is a well known Tibetan culture in greetings. Khatag is an auspicious symbolism towards the person whom which the Khatag is offered to. Khatags are often offered in Tibetan Buddhism to Buddhist images or statues, holy sites, lamas and in certain rituals. It represents the highest respect to the recipient with correct motivation without deluded or negative thoughts.

Walking Marriage of the Mosuo

The walking marriage widely adopted by the Mosuo people is a unique marriage custom that is deeply related to its social and cultural traditions of the matrilineal family system. It is so called because the men will walk to the house of their "partner" at night, but return to their own home in the morning.

Weifang Kite Festival attraction highlights

Held from 20th to 25th April every year, the Weifang Kite Festival is an international kite grand meeting held in Weifang, Shandong once a year, which attracts large quantities of kite experts, fans and visitors from home and abroad.

• Weifang

Shoton Festival FAQ & Travelers's Tips

1. What are the major traditional festivals in China?
2. Where Can I See Temple Fairs and What Should I Notice When I Go?
3. What traditional sports does China have?
4. What traditional marriage custom does China have?
5. How do people greet each other during festivals?
6. Does Traditional Chinese Medicine Really Work? How?
7. Apart from national festivals, is there any particular Chinese festival that's worth mentioning?
8. What is a traditional Chinese wedding like?
9. Why do Chinese people use characters?
10. What are some Chinese Taboos?
11. What should I notice when visiting traditional Chinese architectures or gardens?

1. What are the major traditional festivals in China?

   • Spring Festival: Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Chinese people. All people living away from home will go back. Before the New Year comes, people completely clean the indoors and outdoors of their homes as well as their clothes, bedclothes and all their utensils. Then people begin decorating their clean rooms featuring an atmosphere of rejoicing and festivity. All the door panels will be pasted with Spring Festival couplets, highlighting Chinese calligraphy with black characters on red paper. People attach great importance to Spring Festival Eve. At that time, all family members have dinner together. Waking up on New Year, everybody dresses up. Burning fireworks was once the most typical custom on the Spring Festival. People will pay some visits to their relatives and friends and send their best wishes to them. Children are usually the happiest ones because they can receive much lucky money wrapped by red packets.
     
     
   • Lantern Festival: Lantern Festival takes place on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. On the night of the festival, decorative lanterns depicting birds, beasts, historical figures, and any one of a number of different themes are carried by children or adorn temples. People also celebrate Lantern Festival by eating tang yuan, which is an important custom symbolizing family unity and indispensable to the day's festivities.
     
     
   • The Mid-Autumn is a very important Chinese festival. It falls on the 15th day of August. All family members try to get together on this special day. It is a happy occasion where people feast on scrumptious mooncakes. Some Chinese families today still stay up late to observe the occasion while eating mooncakes, sipping tea and gazing at the beautiful moon.
     
     
   • Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, and together with Chinese New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival forms one of the three major Chinese holidays. Since the summer is a time when diseases tend to be spread easily, Dragon Boat Festival began as an occasion for warding off evil spirits and pestilence and for finding peace in one's life.
     
     
   People will hold dragon boat races. In order to ward off evil spirits and disease, people will do some practice such as hanging calamus and moxa on the front door, and putting up pictures of Chung Kuei (a nemesis of evil spirits). Adults drink hsiung huang wine and children are given fragrant sachets, both of which are said to possess qualities for preventing evil and bringing peace. The most popular dish during Dragon Boat Festival is tzung tzu, originally eaten in memory of the patriot Chu Yuan, but gradually evolving into a snack eaten during normal occasions as well.




2. Where Can I See Temple Fairs and What Should I Notice When I Go?

   Many places such as: Ditan (The Earth Temple), Baiyunguan, Changdian, Shijingshan Amusement Park, Beijing International Sculpture Park, Longtanhu Park, Chinese Ethnic Culture Park. Dongyue Temple, Chaoyang Park (Sun Park), Ritan Park and the Grand View Park (Daguanyuan) will hold fairs from the first day to the seventh day of the Chinese new year. You can enjoy Folk performances and shop around. Delicious snacks are displayed in lines of booths, just asking to be tasted! It's one way to sample the many flavors of different ethnic groups across China. Fried pie, soybean milk, rice cake, fried cake, bean curd, tea soup, toasted sweet potato, ravioli soup, baked sesame-seed cake and delicacies from land and sea can all be found.

   Due to a large population of China and the high popularity of Temple Fairs, there are usually many people visiting the Temple Fairs and the parks that hold this activity are always jammed with a huge crowd. Here are some advices for you when you go to a Temple Fair:

   1. When you go, please wear comfortable shoes so you can walk comfortably among people.
   2. Do watch out for your belongings. There are thieves everywhere in the world. A crowded activity like temple fair is certainly a best opportunity for thieves.
   3. Bargain down the price. Some sellers might offer a high price. Ask your guide for a seasonable price and then bargain down.
   4. Get your guide's cell phone number and follow your tour group closely. If you get lost, please contact your guide or dial 110 and ask the police for help.



3. What traditional sports does China have?

   • Tijianzi: kicking shuttlecocks. It is a traditional Chinese sports played by both the young and the elderly. It exercises the waist, the legs and the feet because one has to keep kicking the shuttlecocks without letting it fall on the ground.
     
     
   • Taichi: Tai chi is typically practised for a variety of reasons: its soft martial techniques, demonstration competitions, health and longevity. Consequently, there exist a multitude of training forms, both traditional and modern, which correspond to those aims. Some of Tai chi chuan's training forms are well known to Westerners as the slow motion routines that groups of people practice together every morning in parks around the world, particularly in China.
     
     
   • Wushu: also known as modern wushu or contemporary wushu, is both an exhibition and a full-contact sport derived from traditional Chinese martial arts. It was created in the People's Republic of China after 1949, in an attempt to nationalize the practice of traditional Chinese martial arts. Most of the modern competition forms were formed from their parent arts (see list below) by government-appointed committee. In contemporary times, wushu has become a truly international sport through the International Wushu Federation (IWUF), which holds the World Wushu Championships every two years; the first World Championships were held in 1991 in Beijing and won by Clark Zhang.
     
     
   • Qigong: refers to a wide variety of traditional cultivation practices that involve movement and/or regulated breathing designed to be therapeutic. Qigong is practiced for health maintenance purposes, as a therapeutic intervention, as a medical profession, a spiritual path and/or component of Chinese martial arts.
     The 'qi' in 'qigong' means breath or gas in Chinese, and, by extension, 'life force', 'energy' or even 'cosmic breath'. 'Gong' means work applied to a discipline or the resultant level of skill, so 'qigong' is thus 'breath work' or 'energy work'. The term was coined in the twentieth-century and its currency, Ownby suggests, speaks of a cultural desire to separate 'cultivation' from 'superstition', to secularize and preserve valuable aspects of traditional Chinese practices

   
   

4. What traditional marriage custom does China have?

   In the old China, there used to be arranged marriage. Arranged marriages are marriages which are negotiated primarily by the parents of the couple, rather than the couple themselves. For centuries, arranged marriage was the only way to marry in most cultures, and it was believed to ensure stronger, happier marriages which also took the form of economic, social, and political alliances. Although most Western countries frown upon arranged marriages because they believe these marriages restrict personal freedom, arranged marriages still occur in parts of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.
   
   There is another form of marriage in China which is called Walking Marriage, and it still exists in Mosuo. The Mosuo is a small ethnic group living in Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces in China, close to the border with Tibet. Walking marriage is a widely-used misnomer for the sort of romantic and sexual relationships embedded in the culture of, especially, the Mosuo ethnic minority of China. They call it 'sisi', which translates as "friend marriage."
   
   The traditional culture is strongly matrilineal and matrilocal. The women open their doors to their lovers every evening, and the men walk home to work in their mother's household next morning. A man is responsible for supporting his sisters' children. While it is possible for a Mosuo woman to change partners as often as she likes - having only one sexual partner would be neither expected nor common - the majority of such couplings will actually be more long-term. Few Mosuo women will have more than one partner at a time.
   




5. How do people greet each other during festivals?

   During festivals, people greet each other by saying auspicious phrases. The most famous one is Kung Hei Fat Choy. Kung Hei Fat Choy is the Cantonese greeting of Happy New Year. It means "Congratulations and be prosperous." The saying is now commonly heard in English speaking communities for greetings during Chinese New Year in parts of the world where there is a sizable Chinese-speaking community, including overseas Chinese communities that have been resident for several generations, relatively recent immigrants from Greater China, and those who are transit migrants (particularly students)




6. Does Traditional Chinese Medicine Really Work? How?

   Traditional Chinese Medicine, also known as TCM, includes a range of traditional medical practices originating in China. TCM practices include theories, diagnosis and treatments such as herbal medicine, acupuncture and massage; often Qigong is also strongly affiliated with TCM. There are four types of TCM diagnostic methods: observe, hear and smell, ask about background and touching.
   
   Beijing Tongrentang Chinese Medicine is a famous time-honored brand in traditional Chinese medicine industry. Unique recipes, best raw materials, and strict standards bring about excellent clinical performance and high reputation both in China and abroad of Tongrentang products.
   
   In fact, Chinese herbs are prescribed in most TCM practices. These remedies are often sophisticated and complex mixtures that were developed for organ imbalances and disease support--and standardized--centuries ago. Those most often used today have been carefully formulated to have minimal side effects.
   
   If you plan to take Chinese herbs, make sure any mixtures you use have standardized content and are processed under the direction of a licensed health professional familiar with their medicinal effects. Individualized herbal mixtures should be prescribed only under the advice of a TCM practitioner who has training in herbal drug compounding. A TCM herbal mixture could be as safe as an over-the-counter cold and flu drug mixture, or as powerful as a strong prescription drug.

7. Apart from national festivals, is there any particular Chinese festival that's worth mentioning?

   Yes. There are many other kinds of festivals in China. Some only take place in certain area. There are two special festivals that we would like to share with you:
   

   • Naadam is a traditional type of festival in Mongolia. Games are played during the festival, such as Mongolian wrestling, horse racing and archery and are held throughout the country during the holidays.
     
     
   • Losar, Tibetan New Year, is the greatest festival in Tibet. It is the most colorful festival of Lhasa. In ancient times when the peach tree was in blossom, it was considered as the starting of a new year. Since the systematization of the Tibetan calendar in 1027 AD, The first day of the first month became fixed as the New Year. On the New Year's Eve, families unite and an "auspicious dinner" is offered, and the auspicious words "tashi delek" are used to greet each other.
     
     
   • Shoton Festival is also an important festival of Tibet. It will be hold in Drepung Monastery. Activities of Shoton Festival are: Buddha Painting Show, Visiting Norbu Linka, Tibetan opera.

    




8. What is a traditional Chinese wedding like?

   The "Hair Dressing" Ritual
   

   • At dawn on her wedding day (or the night before), the bride bathed in water infused with pumelo, a variety of grapefruit, to cleanse her of evil influences C; and one suspects as a cosmetic to soften her skin in the manner of contemporary alphahydroxls. She put on new underclothes and sat before lit dragon-and-phoenix candles.
     
   • A good luck woman attended the bridal preparations. She spoke auspicious words while dressing the brides hair in the style of a married woman.
     
   • After her hair was styled, the bride emerged from her retreat. She was carried to the main hall on the back of the good luck woman or her most senior sister-in-law. There she donned a jacket and skirt and stepped into a pair of red shoes, placed in the center of a sieve. The brides face was covered with either a red silk veil or a curtain of tassels or beads that hung from the bridal Phoenix crown. (The photo below was taken at the mock wedding at a prior years Chinese Summer Festival.
     
   • After completing her wedding preparations, the bride bowed to her parents and to the ancestral tablets and awaited the arrival of the bridal procession from the grooms house.
     
     
   The "Capping" Ritual
   
   
   • Dressed in a long gown, red shoes and a red silk sash with a silk ball on his shoulder, the groom knelt at the family altar while his father placed a cap decorated with cypress leaves on his head.
     
   • The groom bowed first before the tablets of Heaven and Earth and his ancestors, then to his parents and the assembled family members. His father removed the silk ball from the sash and placed it on top of the bridal sedan chair.
     
   
   The Procession from the Grooms House to Obtain the Bride
   
   
   • The dim of firecrackers, loud gongs and drums marked the start of the procession from the grooms home. The groom led the procession accompanied by a child as an omen of his future sons, and the bridal sedan chair was proceeded by attendants with lanterns and banners, musicians, and a dancing lion or unicorn. According to Hsiang, "Several decades ago, when there was a wedding in Fukien, the groom would to the brides house to fetch her, taking with him the bridal chair, which was completely covered with red satin and fresh flowers. He himself made the journey there and back in a blue and yellow teak sedan chair. "
     
   • On arriving at the brides house, the grooms party was met by the brides friends, who would not surrender the bride until they were satisfied by red packets of money, ang pau from the grooms representative. This was the occasion of much good-natured haggling before the two parties could reach an agreement.
     
   • In some cases, the groom would take dinner with the brides family, and receive a pair of chopsticks and two wine goblets wrapped in red paper, symbolic of his receiving the joy of the family in the person of their daughter. In some regions, he would be offered sweet longan tea, two hard-boiled eggs in syrup and transparent noodles. Another variation was the grooms partaking of soup with a soft-boiled egg, the yolk of which he was expected to break, arguably symbolic of breaking the brides ties with her family.
     
   
   The Brides Journey to the Grooms House
   
   
   • The good luck woman or a dajin, employed by the brides family to look after the bride, carried the bride on her back to the sedan chair. Another attendant might shield the bride with a parasol while a third tossed rice at the sedan chair. Sometimes the bride was borne out in a wooden cage with her feet padlocked C; presumably a remnant from rougher times with extremely reluctant brides.
     
   • A sieve, shai-tse, which would strain out evil, and a metallic mirror, king, which would reflect light, were suspended at the rear of the brides sedan to protect her from evil influence. The bride might also attach a special mirror to her garment, which she would not remove until she was safely seated upon the marriage bed.
     
   • Firecrackers were set off to frighten away evil spirits as the bride departed in the sedan chair. The physical movement symbolized the transfer of the bride from her parents family to her husbands.
     
   • Great care was taken to ensure that no inauspicious influence would affect the marriage. The female attendants who escorted the bride to her new home were chosen with particular care that the horoscope animals of their birth years were compatible with that of the bridegroom. The sedan chair itself was heavily curtained to prevent the bride from inadvertently glimpsing an unlucky sight, e.g. a widow, a well, or even a cat. Attendants scattered grain or beans, symbols of fertility, before her.
     
     
   Arriving at the Grooms House
   
   
   • Once again, firecrackers were set off just before the procession arrived. A red mat was placed before the sedan chair for the bride lest her feet touch the bare earth as she dismounted. All the household would be waiting to receive her.
     
   • The bride was required to step over a saddle or a lit stove to cross the threshold, since the words for "saddle" and "tranquillity" sound the same, ngan, and the fire would cast out of evil influences. An attendant might immediately place a heap of rice in a sieve over or near the bride. If the bride did not wear a lucky mirror, one might be used at this time to flash light upon the bride. In some regions, a grain measure and a string of of copper coins were laid out as talismans of prosperity.
     
   • After these rituals took place, the groom could finally raise the red scarf and view the brides face.

   The Wedding
   
   In contrast to the elaborate preparations, the wedding ceremony itself was simple. The bride and groom were conducted to the family altar, where they paid homage to Heaven and Earth, the family ancestors and the Kitchen God, Tsao-Chun. Tea, generally with two lotus seeds or two red dates in the cup, was offered to the grooms parents.
   
   Then the bride and groom bowed to each other. This completed the marriage ceremony, except in some regions, where both also drank wine from the same goblet, ate sugar molded in the form of a rooster, and partook of the wedding dinner together.
   

   The Nuptial Chamber
   
   

   Immediately after the ceremony, the couple were led to the bridal chamber, where both sat on the bed. In some areas, honey and wine were poured into two goblets linked by a red thread. The bride and groom took a few sips and then exchanged cups and drank it down. On the day of the wedding (and sometimes for the next three days), the bed chamber was open to visitors, who were given to teasing the young couple with ribald remarks.
   

   The Wedding Banquets

   Generally, separate wedding feasts were given by the parents of the bride and the groom for their respective friends and families. Even at the feast, men and women sat separately. There could be a single feast for each or a series of feasts over several days. However, the most important feast was that given the grooms family on the day of the wedding. It was generally considered as public recognition of the union.




9. Why do Chinese people use characters?

   A Chinese character, Han character or Hanzi is a logogram used in writing.
   
   The number of Chinese characters contained in the Kangxi dictionary is approximately 47,035, although a large number of these are rarely used variants accumulated throughout history. Studies carried out in China have shown that full literacy requires a knowledge of between three and four thousand characters.
   
   In the Chinese writing system, each character corresponds to a single spoken syllable. A majority of words in all modern varieties of Chinese are poly-syllabic and thus require two or more characters to write. Cognates in the various Chinese languages/dialects which have the same or similar meaning but different pronunciations can be written with the same character. In addition, many Chinese characters were adopted according to their meaning by the Japanese and Korean languages to represent native words, disregarding pronunciation altogether.
   
   Chinese characters are also known as sinographs, and the Chinese writing system as sinography. Non-Chinese languages which have adopted sinography and, with the orthography, a large number of loanwords from the Chinese language are known as Sinoxenic languages, whether or not they still use the characters. The term does not imply any genetic affiliation with Chinese. The major Sinoxenic languages are Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese.




10. What are some Chinese Taboos?

    In ancient China, the Chinese regarded the names of their emperors and elders as taboos. It was forbidden to write the name of an emperor when quoting anything old or composing anything new. To avoid such problems, later emperors were given names with characters invented for them -- characters that were utterly useless for any other purpose.
    
    To illustrate the principles involved here, let us take up the case of the man who founded the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). As an individual, he was a man of the Zhu family named Yuanzhang, so according to the usual manner he would be called Zhu Yuanzhang. However, once he ascended the throne, his personal name became taboo; thenceforth, he would be referred to by his dynastic name or Miaohao (temple name) Great Ancestor of the Ming, or Ming Taizu. According to the conventions of English usage, we would refer to him as Emperor Taizu.
    
    Since a Chinese character has different elements, or morphemes, and most Chinese names mean something, there were some ways to avoid tattoo words for ordinary people. For instance, a person can use any word element morpheme of a taboo word as his/her name; replace the taboo word with its synonyms or parasynonyms; use homophones or words with similar pronunciation as substitutes of the taboo word; change the pronunciation of the tattoo word when using it; use characters in similar shapes; add components to the taboo character to create a new one and so on.